tom’s most recent blog post..Buying a car with a loan is double suicide

Freedom can be given by the government, or taken away. Liberty is the right of every human being.

Let me put it this way. John is free to wander into Frank’s yard and break into his house. Now Frank is at liberty to shoot John in the face. Freedom has more to do with the absence of bondage and slavery, while Liberty has more to do with our rights.

Agreed, its also the fact that once they turn 12 or whatever age, they will either want to know more about it and if you don’t provide it, well they will go out and try it.

So really you just shot yourself in the foot for being delusional and trying to isolate them from reality.

I recall reading somewhere that it has to the point where people think they have to choose between liberty and freedom when they are the same thing (i think), correct me if i am wrong.

tom’s most recent blog post..Buying a car with a loan is double suicide

You are correct. Whenever I touch on a subject in an article and I don’t explain it fully enough, I always make it a point to come back and explain it some more.

I can’t speak for your country, but in the U.S. we like to say that we embrace “freedom” and “liberty” but we really don’t. In truth, the concept of freedom and liberty implies that we can do ANYTHING we want, as long as we don’t infringe on other people’s rights. And we have a right to freedom of religion, but we DON’T have a right to have a religious country. Freedom of religion implies having the freedom to not be religious, and if that means that I want to watch consenting adults perform sexual acts on video, then that is none of the government’s business.

Also, a lot of people like to act like we need to set a positive example for our children. Well, to those who say THAT, speak for yourself. If you aren’t capable of raising a child the way that you want to, don’t blame it others when they do things such as try drugs, have sex, or commit crimes. There are plenty of people who enjoy films with these things in it, without actually doing them in real life. In the meantime, those people can continue to watch the Disney Channel and listen to The Jonas Brothers in peace.

Sorry tom, you got me going on a rant. lol. You’re good at that.

Personally, its the scenario of No sex, don’t do it, its bad, practice abstinence.

Yet what do teens do? Go out and try it, and worse yet they were not given the education first.
So really get with the facts and allow people to choose.

Why is the government constantly introducing new laws to tell us how we should live our lives?

tom’s most recent blog post..Buying a car with a loan is double suicide

I think that a program to help educate parents about what kids are up to in this day and age regarding downloading movies and such would be a great idea! Any parent who wants to monitor their child’s viewing habits would be fighting a losing battle without this information.

While the subject of self censorship is a topic in which we respectfully disagree, I do like that you mentioned “especially violence” instead of “especially sexuality”. It’s nice to know that there are some parents out there who still think that violence may be harmful to a growing kid. Thanks for sharing!

I assume most kids these days know how to download stuff illegally and are pretty much free to watch whatever they like. This depends, of course, on their parents! I have no idea how to combat this .. as a parent I want information about film content (eg on DVD’s) and education and support in monitoring my childrens’ access to stuff at home.

I’d like the film industry to censor itself (especially violence) rather than put that in the hands of the government. I’m not convinced the rating system really does much good.

Ian Peatey’s most recent blog post..When smacking seems the only option

Oops, I guess I forgot that the MPAA doesn’t use their ratings worldwide. I’ve grown up in America, so it’s easy to forget. The ratings, G, PG, PG-13, R, X, and NC-17 are as common to me as the alphabet. *LOL*

The X rating was retired, due to the fact that the MPAA didn’t trademark it, and it had become synonymous with porn, as you mentioned. Up until 1990, it was an official rating.

As for Requiem, my point was that the MPAA tried to kill the film with an NC-17 rating, on the merit of the scene you mentioned alone. Nothing hardcore is shown, so there was no reason for the MPAA to recommend more than an R reason, except that sex has been demonized so. And yes, you’re right, it is one of the best films of all time. It’s one of the few films that can make me tear up. Thanks for sharing!

curiousjessica’s most recent blog post..What I’m grateful for.